Isaiah 9: 2–7
Have you ever waited for something for ages, only to have it turn out
completely differently to what you expected? Perhaps you dreaded a
visit to a dentist, only to find out that you didn’t need that filling after
all. Perhaps you thought that 2020 was going to be a great year!
The prophet Isaiah, speaking some seven hundred years ahead of the
birth of Christ, is speaking in a time of war and occupation. Israel was
suffering. He describes the future Messiah in kingly terms, and many
reading his prophecy would have thought it foretold a great warrior
and earthly king. The humble child, born into a manger was not at all
what they are expecting!
God’s truth did not mirror their human expectations, but He was
faithful to His promises. The Messiah came to us in form that we could
never have expected, small and humble, yet he is still the greatest
hope that humanity has ever had. God continually challenges our
expectations. Sometimes those small hopes can become everything.
As we face another year of uncertainty, hold this in your heart; God is
faithful to the end and will keep his promises to us.
Abigail Parr
God, help us to be at peace with uncertainty, and to trust that while the
answers to our prayers may not be what we expected, they are what is
needed. Amen.
